The Abandoned
by Emperor K. Rool
Summary: A disabled baby Sangheili is abandoned by its keep. When two ODST bodyguards for a human ambassador find it, they are left with the choice of rescuing it and facing the consequences, or leaving to its fate. Set in January 2553.
1. Chapter 1

Halo belongs to Microsoft. This fic occurs sometime in January 2553. It is dedicated to my grandma.

The Sangheili woman threw her bundle down in the forest. She was miles away from the city: no one would find the runt here. The pathetic little creature did not yet have a name, nor would it receive one. It was very light in weight and had one shoulder slightly higher than the other. This creature would be too weak to survive the harsh training required for all Sangheili youth. The runt would be left in the woods where the elements of Sangheilios would kill it and ensure that it would not taint the other Sangheili of the keep with its presence. She straightened her robes and left the baby to its fate.

* * *

"What are we doing here, again?" Jules Meadows asked, not believing the place his current host was holding negotiations. He was a marine, an African American from Monroe, Louisiana in his mid-thirties with short hair.

"We are protecting the ambassador, who is meeting with the kaidon, who apparently likes going on nature walks," Esther Brooks said, unable to take in the kaidon's unorthodox meeting place either. She was also a marine, a Caucasian female of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry from the outer colonies, roughly the same age with short curly brown hair. They were part of a team assigned to protect a human diplomat negotiating with the local kaidon. The Arbiter had pleaded with Lord Hood to send him a convincingly Sangheili-friendly ambassador to help him persuade some of the kaidons who were on the fence about the human alliance. There was also a rapidly spreading rumor that the humans were giving weapons to the Servants of the Abiding Truth. Sending an ambassador was a quick way of dealing with the rumor.

The ambassador was an elderly Caucasian British man, bald with a remnant of grey hair and a moustache. He and the kaidon were several feet ahead, lost in conversation. They stopped when they heard crying.

Jules and Esther held their MA5C assault rifles at the ready. The kaidon knitted his eyes.

"That sound is a baby Sangheili," he said simply.

"What would a baby be doing out here?" Jules asked.

"Let's see," the kaidon said. "It could have been severely underweight, deformed, or sickly—unable to survive the harsh lifestyle that Sangheilios needs to produce excellent warriors. Abandoning such a child to the elements is the most merciful thing to do."

_The Elites abandon their own children who can't be made into soldiers? _Esther thought. This didn't surprise her at all! These monsters that killed her family at New Horizon were truly monsters indeed. She was glad that they helped humanity at the end of the war, but now that the war was over she wanted humanity to have nothing more to do with them.

The crying grew louder as they walked further down the forest trail. Jules noticed a white cloth bundle out of the corner of his eye, beneath a tree further inside the forest.

"Wait! I see it."

In moments Jules had returned carrying a baby Sangheili in his arms. It had stopped crying and looked intently at everyone. Its little mandibles quivered and it made a noise that sounded like "oor". At one moment it locked its eyes directly with Esther's before giving another "oor". For a little monster it was cute. Suddenly it began coughing.

"What's wrong with it?" Esther asked.

"We incubate our young in pods," the kaidon explained. "The little one is suffering from exposure to the elements."

It looked at Esther again. Cough. Oor. Cough. Cough. This little thing wasn't one of the monsters that killed her family. It was another of their victims. She stared at its face for a moment longer.

"Can we get it some medical attention?"

"I don't think the Sangheili society that threw this little one out will do anything to care for it," the ambassador said. He went to pains to avoid mentioning the dishonorable status that doctors possessed on Sangheilios, or the importance of culling the weak from the Sangheili gene pool.

"I was talking about _human_ medical attention," Esther emphasized.

The kaidon chuckled.

"If we consider our own doctors to have a dishonorable profession, why would we use yours? Besides I'm sure there was a good reason it was abandoned." He looked to Jules. "Unwrap it."

Jules complied. When its upper torso was free of the wrapping the kaidon said, "Aha."

"There's the problem. Note that one shoulder is higher than the other. This would hinder it in training exercises. Best to leave it here where it won't contaminate the gene pool."

Jules's mouth fell open, Esther looked back at the baby, and the ambassador found himself praying that his bodyguards would not create a diplomatic incident. Jules covered its upper body again when the baby resumed coughing.

"Can I hold it?" Esther asked. Jules handed the bundle to her.

It stared at her, quivered its upper left mandible, and oored again. She looked back at the kaidon.

"So you are basically telling me that the Sangheili have disowned this child?"

The kaidon thought for a minute. "Disowning" was such a light term. Sangheili were in part raised communally and the only thing really comparable to being disowned was to be exiled from one's city-state. But, considering that this little one was about to be exiled from the state of the living, the kaidon mused that Sangheilios was disowning the child.

"You could say that," the kaidon said.

"So long as this child does not contribute to your gene pool, you don't care what happens to it?"

The ambassador could tell where this was going and he didn't like it.

"Brooks, are you suggesting that you intend to take in this Sangheili child?"

"Yes sir. No one else wants it."

"ONI might."

Jules had a point. ONI had managed to get its hands on a few dead or dying adult Elites before, but they had never had one raised since infancy before. They might want to make clones and test different biological weapons on the Elite subjects at different stages of their life and compare the results. Even if it was not used for weapons testing the baby would probably be a lab rat in some experiment or another, its whole life. But if it were an Elite raised by humans, it would never have a normal life anyway.

Esther looked at the baby. She had distant cousins on Dimona, an insurrectionist world on the edge of human space. The UNSC had always had a weak presence there. Esther knew that her cousin Jonathan and his wife could be trusted to hide the child. There was at least one, possibly two, problems with her plan, namely the ambassador and the kaidon. She had openly announced her plans to take the child to the ambassador who was there on behalf of the UNSC. She had also announced them to the kaidon, who may be uninterested or who may want to ingratiate himself with Earth if an Elite civil war was imminent. Technically, Jules was a possible threat, but she also knew that he did not have the heart to send a kid into ONI's clutches. Even an Elite kid. That left the ambassador and the kaidon.

Esther closed her eyes and said, "There is nothing we can do for the child." Esther laid the bundle down. She was already formulating a plan. They had been given large sacks with which to carry their supplies on the kaidon's nature walk which went on for hours. Every now and then, the kaidon and ambassador would walk of the path and have lengthy conversations in hushed voices. There were apparently things that the ambassador thought that his bodyguards did not have the security clearance to hear. Esther marked the baby's location, and would return to it to place the child in the sack.

Esther laid the child down. Jules stared at her for a moment. He wanted to do something for it. Which would be the more humane thing to do? Leave the child to die or let ONI get it. The chances that ONI would want to kill a baby Sangheili when they could test it in so many ways. It would be a miserable life to someone who grew up outside a laboratory, but this child wouldn't know of a better life. The Sangheili didn't want it, and no life it had with humans could be "normal." Still, wouldn't any life be better than none at all?

"Sir, can we take the child?" Jules asked the ambassador.

"Absolutely not!" The kaidon roared. "I'm not letting the humans gain medical knowledge about the Sangheili lifecycle."

"I think that answers that," said the ambassador.

"No," the kaidon shook his head. "_This_ answers it!" The kaidon ignited an energy blade.

The die was cast. Jules and Esther were about to enter a land of no return. Either they permanently damaged Human-Sangheili relations forever and ruin their careers in the process, or they let a child die. Both had the same priorities and both simultaneously dove for the child. Esther was closer so she reached the child first. Both pointed their assault rifles at the kaidon.

"Ambasador, your permission to dispose of your bodyguards if they get in my way?" The kaidon glanced at the ambassador

"Put those guns down at once!" the ambassador called, ignoring the kaidon. "You are willing to jeopardize our entire alliance with the Sangheili over one child? You are soldiers!"

"Soldiers, not monsters," Esther said, keeping her gun aimed at the kaidon. "If everyone would just remain calm, I know of a place where the child would be safe from ONI, and where other Sangheili would never have to worry about seeing it again."

"Why should I trust you, human?" the kaidon tightened his grip on the sword.

The kaidon had Esther there. Nothing she could do could convince him that she wouldn't give the baby to ONI. All she could do was tell the truth and hope that would convince him.

"Have you heard of the human insurrectionist groups?" Esther asked the kaidon.

"Yes. But what do they have to do with our problem?"

"I have cousins who are insurrectionists. They have no loyalty to the UNSC. They would not give the child to ONI—"

The kaidon slashed with his sword, stopping her mid-sentence. "First, I must assume that you are telling the truth about taking the child to an insurrectionist world. Secondly, I must assume that the insurrectionist do not harbor the same hatred for Sangheili that the rest of humanity does. We tried to destroy all of you unless you have forgotten."

Esther thought of her family who had all been killed. Yes, the Sangheili had tried to wipe out _all_ humanity. Her life story was proof of that. But…

"…The insurrectionists have no agency with ONI's scope or resources. And what Earth doesn't like to admit is that there is no single insurrectionist movement. They are all loosely aligned against Earth, just as most allied with Earth against the Covenant. The people on my cousins' planet just want to keep to themselves." Esther then looked at Jules, then back to the baby, which coughed again. She closed her eyes and swallowed. "And as further assurance, I will resign from Earth's military and become a resident of Dimona. I will raise this child as my own."

Everyone stared at her. Esther tried to look only at the kaidon.

"You can send me on a Spirit, with Sangheili to accompany me at first. And I'll give you my COM Pad, and my cousins' addresses, so that you can personally see that the child has not left my custody."

The kaidon chuckled. "We have no spirits to spare, and I would not burden any of our warriors with making sure that this runt is safe. I still see the best scenario as killing it."

"Just put the child down, Brooks. This is a Sangheili problem; let the Sangheili handle it," the ambassador said.

The kaidon charged. Esther couldn't kill the kaidon, so she aimed for his right leg. Jules aimed for his left leg. In moments the kaidon was on the ground in intense pain and the two sabateurs to the peace process had vanished into the forest.

"It will take every bit of Thel 'Vadam's influence to clean up this mess," the ambassador winced.


	2. Chapter 2

I still do not own Halo. I have rewritten the two human characters as ODSTs instead of regular marines, as that would make more sense for the type of mission they were on. What's going on Sangheilios in Halo 4, _Glasslands,_ and _The Thursday War_ is scarily similar to a real world phenomenon called "The Arab Spring." Not that I have played the game yet or read _Thursday _at all or _Glasslands _in its entirerity. Plot Summaries on Halopedian and selective reading on a kindle counts!

* * *

The baby coughed again. Esther looked at the child's face. She knew nothing about Sangheili health, but she could tell that the child was not doing well. Jules was piloting the SKT-13 shuttle back to the Aanrar Shipyards where the prowler they had arrived on, UNSC _Big Iron_ was docked. Getting to the shipyards was the easy part. Once there, the two humans knew that they would have to convince the ship's AI to help them or they would be unable to make the slipspace jump. They had both acted on instinct when they saved this child from the Kaidon and hadn't thought of their next steps after getting out of Sangheilios' atmosphere. Jules had been the first to speak.

"We can't make it to Dimona without a ship, and we can't make the slipspace jump without an AI."

Esther had slapped herself on the forehead. "What have we just done? There is no way we can get this baby to safety on our own!" Taking the child had seemed so right…Esther had no compassion for the Sangheili nor had she ever had children of her own to know what motherly instinct felt like. Still, something in her gut had said, "You must rescue this child."

"Why did you do it?" she asked Jules.

"Because no kids deserve to be abandoned."

"Even Elites?" She asked.

"Even Brutes and Jackals."

"Well," Esther said, looking into the child's spilt pupils as it yawned and briefly closed its eyes. "We can't abandon it now. How are we going to get Dante on our side?"

That brought them to the present. Dante was the AI on _Big Iron_. He was only three years old, but he was already exhibiting eccentricities. If there was any question of rampancy, he would have been terminated . Nevertheless, he openly questioned the captain's every third decision. He was given the name Dante because of the immediate association that name had with the _Inferno_. The soldiers on board had to be ready to unleash wrath and punishment on the Covenant during the war. But he seemed to resent that association of his name. Dante the AI liked to remind people that Dante the author had also written the _Paradiso_. The AI had long been interested in the different cultures of the Covenant and hoped that there would be an era of peace now that the war was over. Still getting him to aid the two ODSTs in taking over the ship was going to be easier said than done.

It was now, for the first time since the Covenant had slaughtered her family, that Esther prayed. Then she had prayed for the ability to avenge her family. However, the more Covies she killed the angrier she felt. Now for reasons she couldn't explain, she saw this little Elite she held as a baby that she wanted to keep safe, not a monstrous enemy. She held the baby close and closed her eyes, but she surprised herself by praying aloud.

"Please G-d, if it is your will that we get this baby to safety, please enable us to do so."

Jules, a Baptist, joined her in prayer. Not knowing whether or not she was Messianic, he was hesitant to add _in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach_. He did however add silently _in Jesus' name_. He did this for his own prayer, but was confident because of Esther's faith in the same God, that He would hear her prayer, even if she did not know the Messiah.

* * *

The shuttle reached the Aanrar Shipyards. By now the Ambassador had alerted the crew of the _Big Iron_. They would likely be sent to the brig the moment they stepped on board. If they could get Dante to consider the child's welfare, he would no doubt not shut up about the child. That might get people on the bridge thinking. As they stepped out of the shuttle in _Big Iron's_ hanger bay, the remaining ODSTs s stood waiting for them. Jules held only his M7S Caseless Submachine Gun, while Esther held her weapon in one hand, and held the baby Sangheili close to her chest with the other arm. The two expected to meet raised guns when they came out, but what they found was just the opposite. The other ODSTs were just standing there. A Caucasian American named Phil addressed them.

"You guys are in so much trouble right now, I think you can both kiss your military careers goodbye! But-"

"This baby is not going to back to Sangheilios to be killed, or to an ONI lab!" Esther declared.

"The baby is going to be fine-"

Esther could not believe his words. She had had the bitterest experience with the Covenant but everyone on that ship except Jules had lost someone in the war. How could she expect them to give a rip about the baby when she had so surprised herself? While this was going on in her head Fill had continued speaking.

"The Arbiter was the first person the Ambassador spoke to. He is speaking to Lord Hood now. Until Hood makes a decision, nobody is doing anything with the baby except give it medical attention."

Esther silently mouthed, _Thank you, G-d_.

"Arby wants the little Elite baby to get a human education, live with humans, and come back to Sangheilios in thirty years." Phil looked down in disgust, almost as though he could spit. "We don't see any Elites offering to take in our war orphans."

"I can't see why we would want them to." Esther responded.

"You are going to be court marshaled," he said and then turned to Jules, "Both of you." Phil snatched the baby from Esther's arm and raised his gun.

Phil ordered the other ODSTs to take them to the brig.

"So, ONI gets it after all," Jules said.

Esther bowed her head in defeat.

* * *

"I am still trying to convince my people that an alliance with yours is in everyone's best interest," Thel Vadam said across the viewscreen to his human counterpart, Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood. "Admiral, you know as well as I do that if the fighting continues, your people will likely win but only after scores of unnecessary deaths."

The Canadian Admiral shrugged. "You are stating things that I already know. How does this pertain to the diplomatic incident that has just happened?" Hood was hesitant to cast blame on the kaidon, the ODSTs or even the ambassador, as he was unsure what he would have done in any of their positions. Despite his hesitance to make a moral judgment, he knew that the ODSTs had violated the chain of command and that they needed to be punished.

"This child presents our alliance with something that it needs. A story of a human disobeying orders to help an innocent Sangheili child, whom she did not hold responsible for the wrongs my people did to yours. A lie that the San 'Shyuum spread was that not only were humans unclean, but that they desired the destruction of all other life. Your soldier has already proved in the eyes of some of my staff, that teaching is false." Thel was being very careful in what he said here. Some saw it as demonstrating that humans wanted peace. Others saw it as an outsider butting in to Sangheili matters. If Thel could get the Sangheili to simply view humans the way the Sangheili viewed the other Covenant Species, as inferiors but not automatically deserving of destruction…that was progress in his book. This Esther Brooks would probably be hacked to death on Sangheilios but her actions disproved what some of the wilder opponents of the alliance in 'Mdama were screaming.

"You want to turn this child into a publicity stunt," Hood nodded seeing where Vadam was going.

"Admiral, I do not want to see anymore needless deaths, of my people or yours. I am willing to do things either of our cultures considers shameful if it will help this alliance become accepted." Hood nodded in agreement.

"I am not sure whether Brooks or Medows should take custody of the child, but they should both be court marshaled. One should take the child to raise-

"The female. That would seem most correct to the Sangheili."

Hood knitted his eyebrows at Vadam. He cleared his throat and then continued, "Brooks will take the child and she will be supervised by a government officer who will give monthly reports to someone on your staff," Hood said.

"Very well, Admiral. Thank you for seeing the merit in this little scheme." Hood closed the link on his side. Thel sighed and put his head in his hands. This child represented so much hope to him for his world. The days of being a warrior society had to come to a close. If the Sangheili were to survive, they needed skills in the sciences. While this child could not learn everything they needed to know, he could one day show the Sangheili the benefits of a human-style education. For the Sangheili to one day be able to stand on their own, was Thel's greatest dream.

* * *

Dr. Zudakis looked at the child as it lay on its bed in sick bay. Having seen no battle since the war ended in November, hence no injuries, the doctor had the entire sickbay to himself and the child, apart from the occasional interruptions of the ship's AI, Dante. Dante, appearing exactly the famous portraits of his namesake, with robes, a cap and a laurel, projected on the doctor's desk.

"So what do we know?" he asked the doctor in his native Greek.

"We know that the child is male and that his shoulder can be corrected with surgery. He is also suffering from a bacterial infection of his lung."

Dante arched his eyebrows, "Will our antibiotics work on Sangheili pathogens?"

Zudakis stroked his graying goatee as he answered, "Inoculating humans against extraterrestrial pathogens is one of the earliest things we had to do when we began colonizing other worlds. But applying our medicine on an extraterrestrial patient has never been done before."

Dante wrinkled his forehead and said, "Wouldn't the Covenant have used interspecies medicine?"

"Yes, in fact they did. Though the Sangheili routinely eschewed Doctors, they understood the premise of inoculation and had their DNA combined with vaccines. However, this case involves treating an infection that's already occurred."

The child coughed interrupting Dr. Zudakis. The doctor and the AI both looked toward the child and back to each other.

"There is less fear of our antibiotics not working on the microbes, than of our antibiotics also destroying the patient's lung tissue. However, I don't see any other choice."

The doctor returned to the little patient's bed. He gave the child a shot which caused it to cry out. He looked down at the child. That Sangheili would abandon their infants should how cheap they considered life. While it was hard to condemn this little one, Zudakis thought, what kind of being would it be if it grew up? Could it overcome millennia of genetic predisposition that made compassion an alien concept? In any event, they would soon know what Admiral Hood had decided. Until then, Zudakis would try to keep the baby alive. The only real question was whether or not the earth antibiotics would have an adverse effect on the Sangheili body? He would keep the baby in sick bay until its symptoms stopped. Then he would move it to his quarters until he received word from Captain Huang. If it showed nothing abnormal within the first twenty-four hours of this shot, everything was likely to be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I really don't know what a brig on a UNSC ship looks like. I'm also not sure what the slipspace travel time between Earth and Sangheilios is. If anything in canon contradicts me, please mentally rewrite this chapter.

* * *

"I'd like to go back to ULM after I get out of jail but I'll probably go back to the family import business," Jules said as he paced in the cell. A thin wall of glass separated them from the main area of the brig. The cell had one cot, one toilet, and a sink. Esther was sitting on the cot. She ignored Jules. She had just saved the baby to see the UNSC take it for no doubt experimental purposes. Things didn't happen this way—humans were the good guys. This baby was not a Covie. The Sangheili had tried to kill it, for crying out loud! But maybe…

"Maybe we shouldn't have tried it."

"You can't mean that!" Jules said.

"Of course," Esther put her head in her hands. "It wasn't a human child. It wasn't our place…"

"Even if it's a lab rat, at least it's alive," Jules said. "Whoever is in charge of it might come to love it."

Esther swallowed and felt her spirits rise. ONI would probably not try to kill their live Sangheili.

"Well, that just leaves our careers," Esther said with a flat humor in her voice.

The door to the brig slid open. Captain Huang entered with two ODSTs. Esther felt a lump form in her throat again. If the worst news he could deliver would be about the baby. Anything else would be preferable.

"Well, you two have certainly created quite a situation," Huang said.

_Get on with it_, Esther thought. The longer the captain delayed the more tension she would feel.

"Lord Hood and the Arbiter are still trying to play diplomat with each other. For reasons that I don't care to analyze, Hood has consented to let you, Brooks," he pointed to Esther, "have custody of the child. It's a male and Dr. Zudakis informs me that it will survive the sickness it had. You are both dishonorably discharged from the UNSC Navy, but there are no charges filed against you."

Jules and Esther immediately hugged each other. The baby was okay, she was going to take care of it, and no one was going to jail. She was so…so…happy.

"Thank You, L-rd!" She shouted.

Captain Huang tried to dismiss the actions of the two, but he couldn't help finding them ridiculous. He didn't want to laugh _with _them but he couldn't help laughing _at_ them.

"I don't mean to cut your celebration short," the captain said between chortles, "but the little elite is going to be under government surveillance until it's thirty and has to go back to Sangheilios."

That stung Esther a bit. She would have to say good-bye one day.

"We are keeping the two of you here until we return to Earth. There Lord Hood is going to want to see you and the elite, Brooks." Captain Huang looked at the two and noted the single bed and toilet in their cell. "We can move one of you into a different cell. Meadows," he said to Jules. One of the captain's ODSTs entered a code in a panel to the cell's right. The glass rose up into a slot above the cell's opening. Jules stepped out of the cell. The ODST entered another code and the glass shut. Jules was led to an adjacent cell on the left where the same procedure was repeated.

"Enjoy the rest of your trip, and Brooks," he said looking to Esther, "Congratulations on becoming a mother." Huang turned his back to the two ex-marines and walked out of the brig. A thousand thoughts swam through Esther's mind, but for now at least she could hope that everything would be okay.

* * *

The Journey to Earth took about two weeks. When _Big Iron_ docked at Cairo Space Station, Captain

Huang, his two ODST body guards, and Dr. Zudakis entered the brig. Zudakis was carrying the little one. Before anyone could say anything, the baby made one of its cute "oor" noises.

"Dr. Zudakis has a few things he would like to say," Captain Huang said after clearing his throat.

"Since you found this little fellow in the State of Chavam, there is a good possibility that that is his last name. Also from a list of Sangheili names, Dante and I selected Rtas to be his first name." The first syllable in his name sounded like the noise that he made so frequently.

Esther said something that surprised her more than anyone, "That's a cute name."

Little Rtas looked directly at her with his big yellow eyes and quivered his mandibles a little.

"I have tried to compile all known facts about Sangheili biology into a paper. I suggest that you raise him in a very warm location. The closer to the equator the better," Zudakis struggled to pull the paper out of his coat and hold Little Rtas at the same time.

"We might as well release them now," Huang said and nodded to the ODSTS. When the glass was retracted, Esther walked forward to take Baby Rtas from Dr. Zudakis. Rtas smacked his mandibles when Esther took him. He nuzzled her shoulder.

"He apparently likes you," Zudakis said.

"That's good since the little fella's stuck with me for thirty years!" she said squeezing Rtas close.

Jules looked to Esther. "I guess this is goodbye."

The two locked eyes. They had taken the risk of taking in a Sangheili child together. They had not had a particularly closer friendship with each other prior to rescuing Little Rtas. Still in that time they had taken great risks together.

"I guess so. Thanks, Jules."

"No problem."

They shook hands, slowly. They had made this decision and faced the biggest risks together, now they would have to face the less frightening challenges of living with the consequences alone.

"Good luck, I guess," Esther said.

"Don't believe in luck, but you'll be in my prayers."

Esther thought about what Jules had just said. This was the first time since her family died that she had prayed. And G-d had answered with an affirmative. Apparently the G-d of a human religion also cared about Sangheili. Esther thought about that for a minute. The G-d she prayed to was the G-d of Israel, but he was also the creator of Jew and Gentile—human and alien. All life was special. She knew humans were in the right in the war—_No duh! The Prophet of Truth would have wiped out all life in the Galaxy—_still by winning the war the Humans had saved not only themselves, but every species in the Milky Way. Or rather, G-d had used Humans to save the whole galaxy. And the same G-d that had created her had created this little bundle of joy and had brought them together to form one family.

All of these thoughts passed through Esther's head in mere seconds. They stayed with her, as she kept thinking over them later, but they had all entered her mind before Captain Huang interrupted.

"Meadows, you're free to go where you want. Brooks, you are meeting directly with Lord Hood, and

I'm sure ONI will have a few things to say to you as well."

* * *

The guards moved out of the way as Esther entered the office of arguably the most powerful man in the known galaxy, Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood. As Esther entered the room, she noticed that the Admiral was standing with his back to her. There was a chair sitting in front of the Admiral's desk.

"Please be seated."

Esther complied and Little Rtas made one of his cute noises in her arms.

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm not really interested in why you did what you did, but this child holds the promise of the future. ONI is already planning for our next war with the Sangheili. There's no guarantee that the Arbiter's government will hold power, and I'd be foolish not to prepare for a war with the Sangheili extremists as well. However, there is another bridge that I don't want to completely burn just yet. Nitro Saroam or whatever his name is proves that some young Sangheili want to our allies. This is the faction that supports the Arbiter and it is this faction we will continue to recognize as the legitimate Sangheili government…" Hood noticed that his voice was rising. "I'm getting off subject. The point is…" he turned to face Esther, "peace might not be possible until today's teenagers are grandparents. But when it is, your…" he gestured to Rtas.

"Rtas, sir."

"Your Artas will be a key figure in the peace process. He'll show the Sangheili why our way of life is conductive to peace. Because I don't think that a feudalistic Sangheilios can ever be our ally and the Sangheili don't either."

Hood sat down at his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. He handed it to Esther.

"Recife, Brazil." Esther read the city at the end of the address the Admiral gave her.

"Hot and comfortable for your little one. I have a guard positioned in the apartment above yours. You will report to him regularly on the child's condition. I'm pulling the strings for him to have as close to a normal human education as will work for a Sangheili. The minute he hits college, were training him for diplomacy."

Esther had several questions on what Rtas was going to face. She decided to ask the most important first.

"Sir, what about ONI?"

"I will deal with them. I've convinced Admiral Parangoski that if we can't wipe out the Sangheili, it would be useful to have a peace making agent. ONI won't try to take the baby from you. They will, however, want constant medical and psychological reports. And they will want to see every report card and graded assignment from school."

That brought Esther to her second question.

"Sir, how will Rtas handle a human school?"

"We don't know yet. We think centuries of relying on the Prophets and Engineers for technical know-how has caused the portion of the Sangheili brain responsible for the hard sciences to shrink. They were capable of achieving spaceflight on their own once. But we want him to be a diplomat and the section of his brain that deals with liberal arts is working well. The average Sangheili has an IQ of 80 which is just five points less than a human from an advanced pre-industrial society. Personally, I think the Arbiter's an Alexander. But you have got this one as a baby. It's brain's still growing. It might surprise us. Just don't expect him to do well in math, chemistry, or physics. But there is something I want you to remember." The Admiral's tone became darker with the last sentence.

"Sir?"

"We are not doing this just because we want to help an orphaned Sangheili. We want to use him in the peace process." Hood turned his glance away. "Remember, record and save everything."


	4. Chapter 4

Today was the eighteenth anniversary of Rtas Brooks' finding. He liked to call it his birthday, and that's how he and his family celebrated it, but he had no idea of his actual date of hatching. _It_ was when the humans he regarded as his family found him. He knew how unusual he was, a Sangheili raised by humans. He most often thought of himself as a human but every time he looked in a mirror he was reminded he had mandibles and that he was six feet eleven inches tall. In another year or two he'd hit the average Sangheili hight. He already towered over every human he knew. He had aggressive instincts that released through basket ball and first-person shooters. He knew what his academic limits were. He'd maintained B averages in all his math courses and in his chemistry course in high school. He had never taken physics class, but he liked to read the works of physicists. For all other subjects he had maintained an A average and was poised to graduate in the top five of the class of '71 Recife Municipal High School. He could speak English, Brazilian Portuguese, and Hebrew.

Originally he was going to be used as a diplomat to promote the human way of life for the Sangheili as means of peace and helping his people to stand on their own feet after the fall of the Covenant. That was before Jul 'Mdama overthrew Thel 'Vadam's government and joined the Prometheans. When the pro-earth government returned to power after the Prometheans' defeat, the Human and Sangheili leaders saw little propaganda value in Rtas. Sangheilios recognized Human hegemony. Enough of the Sangheilli military remained in place to for the Sangheili to defend themselves from rogue Jiralhanae and to keep the peace, but several billion Sangheili were left without the profession that had defined their culture. It was the price of peace which the Vadamists with human support forced on Sangheilios. Because he was friends with the Master Chief, Thel 'Vadam was able to get the "we feel sorry for a fraction of one percent of your species" vote. Things on Sangheilios were a lot better than they could have been. Human doctors ran charity hospitals and many Sangheili had learned to farm for the first time in centuries. Still, many were at the mercy of Kig-yar farm owners who had turned them into share-croppers. The current Arbiter, N'tho 'Saroam, kept pleading with Earth's president to send teachers to help the Sangheili learn how to use their own technology but Earth kept ignoring him.

Rtas grew up without feeling a heavy weight of destiny on his shoulders. For a few years when he was little his mother took him to visit a Mr. Meadows in Louisiana. Eventually his mom and Mr. Meadows married. The formal paperwork for an adoption had never taken place, so Rtas' legal name was Rtas Jonathan Brooks. He still considered his dad to be his dad despite their different last name. Rtas was an Earther and a Brazilian and proud of those things. He was also sure of somethings spiritually. He was definitely sure that there was a God. So, the Precursors had genetically tampered with life on every planet in the galaxy. Well, who made the Precursors? It took a lot of mental effort but he could rap his mind around the idea that time was really static and only our perceptions changed. Still didn't matter. God existed both within and outside of spacetime.

He was also sure that Jesus was God's son and the _Mashiach_. His mother was Jewish and Rtas loved that culture very much. He had a Kippah, a tallit, prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day, and was Bar Mitzvahed at age thirteen. He could sing "Chanukah Oh Chanukah" in Yiddish, English, and Hebrew, though that song and the word _kvetch_ were the extent of his Yiddish. His father, however, was a Christian. He knew that the early Church really believed that Jesus rose from the dead. The letters of Paul were not written millennia after the fact as the Covenant's beliefs in divine Forerunner were. Jesus fit the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. But here was where the matter got complicated. The _Mashiach _is a Jewish concept. Jesus himself is and all his first followers were Jewish. "Jesus" is actually derived from the Hebrew name "Yeshua" which means "God Saves." Since Yeshua was Jewish, how could his followers be of a different religion? Rtas had read the New Testament and was sure that Yeshua did not claim to be the same person as God the Father, but that he did claim to be preexistent. The New Testament also contained language about Yeshua that the _Tanakh_ reserved for God the Father. And Yeshua made the statement that "Before Abraham was, I AM."

What really attracted Rtas to Yeshua was that even though he is somehow one with God he did not go around acting like a dictator but like a teacher. His greatest commandments were to "Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength"—the _V'ahavta_ of the _Shema_ in Judaism—and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Of course the New Testament said that Yeshua would return and reign as king, but he would deserve it, and someone who lived like he did could not rule unjustly. Rtas believed in Yeshua but from a Jewish context. He had never heard his mom say that she believed in Yeshua. Once when he asked her if Yeshua was the Messiah, she said, "I don't know. He might be." His dad didn't object to him using Hebrew names and worshiping in a Jewish manner. He had been baptized by a local Pentecostal church when he was seventeen, the age he trusted himself to make the decision. His mom didn't object.

This day began like any other. Rtas spent thirty minutes in prayer on awaking, ate his breakfast, brushed his teeth, dressed, and his dad took him to the local gym for his morning workout. School was still out for the winter break and later that evening his friends were going to come over and play multiplayer on his favorite first person shooter that he got for the newest Xbox he got this Chanukah.

While Rtas was on the treadmill, he noticed a news bulletin on Waypoint.

"Government forces on Sangheilios today put down a farmers' revolt at near Bekan keep in Mdama," the anchorwoman said. "The area where the revolt took place were fields owned by a Kig-yar named Lek. The farmers accused him of demanding too much of their produce to put in the market." For centuries, the Sangheili had been dependent on farmers of other species to grow food for them. They had always hunted, but as omnivores they had always needed plant-based food as well. After 'Mdama fell, many of the farmers left for Eayn and Doisac, wanting to be repatriated into Kig-Yar and Jiralhanae society. Some wanted to stay on Sangheilios, but not in suficient numbers to save the farming industry.

Images of Sangheili in what looked like medieval peasant clothing being pushed by Sangheili in what looked like Covenant period armor filled the screen. The camera focused on a single Sangheili woman who was holding a baby in her hands. It just stared out into space with quivering mandibles, while the mother spoke in the Mdamese dialect. The subtitles read, "I just want to feed my little one this season."

When Rtas saw those quivering mandibles, he stopped walking and almost fell off the treadmill. He picked the pace back up. Those mandibles…the part of his body that he very often wished he didn't have. The baby was obviously hungry. So, it was just a Sangheili. Not a person. Waypoint continued.

"Meanwhile in the city of Saroam, the Arbiter's home city, the millennia old sewer system has broken down. The population is expected to without clean drinking water for weeks." There was another shot of a Sangheili woman holding a baby and patting its head. Its mandibles were also quivering.

Rtas involuntarily quivered his own mandibles. He caught himself. He wasn't a Sangheili anymore. The Sangheili had abandoned him when he was just a baby. He now had human parents who loved him. What did he care about the world that left him to die? A world where thousands of little baby Sangheili who had no human families to rescue them were now suffering. Rtas felt tears rise up. He was a Sangheili. To say he wasn't was an insult to the God who made him. Yeshua taught that the poor should be helped and to love your enemies. How could he not care about those Sangheili he had seen.

As his dad drove him home from the gym, Rtas told him what he saw on Waypoint.

"Sangheilios is a messed up planet. I'm just glad that sense not everyone has to be a warrior anymore. They aren't just abandoning sick babies like you anymore."

"Why was I rescued?"

"Because your mother and I—

"No, Dad. Why out of all the possible abandoned Sangheili did I happen to be the one fortunate enough for you to run into?"

"Son, What are you…"

Rtas looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror. For all that he considered himself human, of Jewish culture and Brazilian nationality, it was a Sangheili staring back at him. Only one thing about how he viewed himself and what he really was was consistent: Yeshua lived in his heart. He had to share that love with those who needed it.

"I feel like I'm not supposed to just live for myself."

"No, of course you're not."

Rtas turned his eyes to his father.

"After College, I'd like to work as a missionary on Sangheilios."

Rtas' dad pulled the car into over to the side of the road. He looked very concerned.

"Rtas, if you feel convicted, go. But if this is just something you're doing because you feel obligated, don't."

Rtas looked at himself in the mirror for another moment.

"I just feel like I'm supposed to."

When Rtas' mother got home that day, she found her son lying in his enormous bed starring at the ceiling. His mom could tell something was on his mind. She entered the room and sat beside Rtas.

"Whatcha doin', kiddo?" she said nuzzling his head.

"Thinking about Sangheilios."

"That planet had a lot of problems. I think they are better off now with 'Saroam in control."

Rtas looked at his mother. His eyes were sad.

"They are starving and living in filth. I saw the news today." Rtas looked away. He groaned and his mother patted his head as if he were a human with hair to ruffle.

"I want to major in Sangheili studies in college."

"Do you want to go back to Sangheilios?" Esther looked in her son's eyes.

Rtas stared at his pillow for a few minutes. He didn't really want to go to Sangheilios but he felt like he needed to. He had heard no voice in a burning bush, but a voice deep within his heart was telling him he had to go back.

"What if this is the reason I was saved? I've tried telling myself I'm human, but—" he grabbed his mother's hand and touched his mandibles with it.

Esther looked lovingly into her son's eyes.

"I know," she said. "I know."

"I'd come back to visit every chance I got. And we'd communicate over Waypoint every day."

"Rtas," his mother said, "You should major in Sangheili studies in college first, and then decide."

Rtas thought about what his mom had said. That was the wisest advice he'd heard all day, along with his dad's advice about not acting out of a sense of obligation. Still he could feel deep in his heart that the Sangheili people were in desperate need of unconditional love. He had a long time to think about all of these things. After all, he still had one semester of high school left…but those years passed very quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I did not read _Thursday War_ before posting last chapter. There is no evidence that Jul 'Mdama ever overthrew the Arbiter's faction on Sangheilios. And the book corrected me on another misconception. Unggoy are in fact used as farmers on Sangheilios. I just couldn't see them with their breathing equipment in rural areas for long. For this story, I'm still using the idea that the humans have broken up Sangheili military power, but it is partially the Sangheili government's own idea after realizing that they could never win a war with Earth, and their desire to create a self-sufficient Sangheili workforce. As the Sangheili in the Halo 4 vids and Reach vids, seen to be different languages everything here original work. Please, also note that Summer in Australia or most of Brazil would be winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

* * *

Rtas looked through his old yearbooks. He was always the tallest in his class. His mandibles always full of pointy teeth. Still, his voice was always nice even if deep. Kids who had family that they had lost in the war thought that he was evil. He had it drilled into him by his parents that they might lose him if he ever fought back against a bully, because his strength was so much greater. Human bullies could hurt him, but if he was not careful he could kill them. Fear of being taken from his parents kept Rtas from fighting back the few instances when fights occurred, though it didn't keep him from yelling or name-calling. Nevertheless, some noticed that he went out of his way not to hit when he was hit. Some saw through his mandibles and thought he was nice. In Fourth Year, when the class learned about the war in Earth History, the teacher asked Rtas to explain how he had ended up on Earth. From that point forward most kids saw Rtas as one of them. For the rest of Rtas's time as a student until college, he was able to forget he was a Sangheili.

Then came that day on the treadmill. Rtas prayed about the decision multiple times. He was now a senior at Wheatley University in Sydney, Australia. They offered a major in Sangheili studies in the anthropology department. As part of the coursework, he had to spend a semester on Sangheilios. He would have to know then. He left home for Sydney tomorrow and the students in Dr. Philips' class would leave for Sangheilios the next day.

As Rtas was looking through his old yearbooks, there was a knock on the door to his room. He got up and opened it. It was his mom.

"Mom?"

"At this hour on your last night home before your big trip, I had a feeling you'd be up thinking."

"I know, I should be getting some sleep."

"Yes, now let me tuck you in."

Rtas whimpered. He was in college and at seven-foot-four was of monstrous proportions by human standards. Esther knew her son would not like being tucked in, but she had to. He was determined to go to Sangheilios, and in case something happened on that backward planet…she wanted to have the chance to tuck her baby in one last time.

She tucked him in and kissed his forehead.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll be back in time for fall semester. I'm sorry I won't be here for Chanukah." He gently brought the ends of his mandibles together and kissed his mother on the cheek.

Esther went back to her and Jules' bedroom.

"I worry about him."

"I do too, but you have to remember, they are going to the state of Vadam. They like humans there. Professor Philips offers this module every summer break. There have been no incidents so far. I think that he might have a future in doing something on Sangheilios."

Rtas was originally going to be trained as a diplomat. Now he was trying to figure out if G-d wanted him to go to be a missionary on Sangheilios.

"I've been praying for clarity in Rtas' decision and I think he'll get it in this trip," Jules said.

Esther looked at Jules.

"You don't think that G-d wanted him to be free of that place?"

"I think God wants everyone to be free."

Esther thought carefully about what her husband had said. The Sangheili were G-d's creatures too. Maybe G-d had given her and Jules their little one—that's how she still thought of the ginormus Sangheili—to be an important figure to his people. But, because he was still her little one, she didn't want anything to happen to him. Still, she reassured herself, nothing would happen in Vadam.

Jules kissed Esther and turned off the lamp at his bedside.

Esther prayed silently.

"Dear G-d, if You want Rtas to be like a Sangheili Moses, please keep him safe and confirm for him that is what You want him to do. In any event, please let him know and please keep him safe. Amen."

* * *

The class met on campus for the syllabus the day before they left for Sangheilios. Rtas never got tired of looking at the Wheatly U campus. Despite being conveniently close to Sidney, the campus' Victorian neo-Gothic architecture and gardens gave it the feeling belonging to a time in Earth's distant past. Rtas had to go through the process of making friends again and apologizing for people's relative's he'd never killed. Most people were not so much antagonistic toward him as they were reticent to speak outside of class. Still this was a place where futures were being made. Rtas took his first physics course here. It was aimed for non-majors and Rtas made an A. More importantly, he'd made what he hoped would be long-lasting friendships.

Everyone majoring in Sangheili studies loved him, though that only accounted for four students in their fourth year: a blond Aussie named Lauren, an Indian guy named Dev, a white American from Utah named Bob, and a young lady from Japan named Eriko. There were more juniors and underclassmen who were in that program who liked Rtas, but the main reason any of them took special interest in Rtas was because he was Sangheili, the very reason many others didn't like spending time with him. No question, college is wired. Rtas didn't like being the token Sangheili in the class. His other identification, a follower of Yeshua was still pretty odd. There was going to be one Hindu, one Buddhist, and three athiests, counting Dr. Phillips, on this trip.

Rtas opened the door to the class in which they had been assigned to meet. It was a seminar room built for small student size. Much of the room consisted of a circular table. So far, Eriko and Rtas were the only students there.

"Rtas, _hes go metum_?" Eriko asked in the Standard Sangheili Dialect and hugged Rtas around his neck.

"_La, Eriko. Man hes?_"

"_La konmi._"

"Just us so far?"

"Bob is loitering in the hallway."

"I think I'll take a seat." Rtas pulled out one of the chairs from the table and set there, shifting his weight to his feet so that he would not cause the chair to break.

"You ever been off-world?" Rtas asked.

"Not to a Sangheili planet. "

"I'm a little scared," Rtas confessed.

"Because you are a Sangheili who has been raised by humans?"

"_Doro_," he answered in the affirmative.

"We're going to Vadam. They like humans there," Eriko tried to sound assuring, taking a seat on Rtas' right.

It wasn't so much his safety that concerned Rtas, as it was this nagging feeling that he was going to discover who he really was in this trip—that he would discover that person and that he wouldn't like him.

Lauren opened the door and said, "_Quoren la hun!"_

She walked the long way around the room greeting both Eriko and Rtas before settling in the chair on Rtas' left.

_Great, now I'm going to be stuck in the middle_.

"So how have you guys been spending you're summer break?" Lauren asked.

"I was visiting my family in Hokkaido. It's freezing there this time of year."

"With mine in Brazil. It's always summer there."

Dev entered at that moment.

"What's up, everyone?"

"_Ek Sangheili, dor' hes kat._" Lauren said.

"We're not actually on Sangheilios yet, and this isn't language class."

"Oh, Dev, you'll hurt Dr. Phillips' feelings," Rtas lightly jabbed at his friend.

"Don't you even start, Rtas," Dev responded back, equally lightly. He took the chair at the left end of the table.

"How are things in Jaipur?" Rtas asked.

"We actually had a family holiday in Agra. But everything seemed to be nice on the homefront. How 'bout you guys?"

Everyone answered that everything was going fine. Then the door slammed open. Bob entered the room. He hurriedly took the chair directly opposite Dev. This could only mean Dr. Phillips was in the hall and approaching the room. Within seconds of Bob sitting down Dr. Phillips entered the room.

"Hello everyone. I hope you've all been enjoying your time off," Dr. Phillips said before taking the seat directly across from Rtas.

"I'm very glad that you've chosen to take part in this Sangheilios module. Nothing can give you the feel for understanding a culture like spending time in it. I've just uploaded the syllabus to your datapads. Take time to read it yourself, but first I would like to warn you of a few things."

The class eagerly waited. Dr. Phillips usually delivered important with humor.

"Be warned that Sangheili toilets are essentially holes in the ground with single spigots for water. Sangheili showers are bitterly cold, and the soap feels like gravel."

"How do you…er…wipe yourself?" Bob asked.

"That's what the spigot is for. I don't expect anyone except the Arbiter to have toilet paper and a sink. Just don't use the spigot for washing your hands. Sangheili don't touch their butts with their hands. In many human cultures that would ritually make your hand unclean. Sangheili generally avoid using the hands for anything other turning the faucet on or off."

"That's just horrible!" Rtas said.

"Similar things have existed in human history, the toilet-bidet combo springing to mind. That's still common in non-English speaking regions. It's actually more hygienic than toilet paper—the human bidet, I mean." Dr. Phillips paused for a moment to let the giggling among the Westerners in the class die down, before continuing.

"More seriously, don't play with Forerunner artifacts. I once teleported myself eighty kilometers by pressing a button. Forerunner tech should be left to the government who is doing amazing things with it. We are here to study post-Covenant society in a major Sangheili city.

"We are going to Vadam, a human friendly region, but if anything happens to any of you , I will lose my tenure and the university will shut down the Sangheili Studies Program. So since I care about each of you deeply, and my job even more so," Dr. Phillips said with sarcasm in his voice, "I'm going to be responsible for each of your safety. The main questions I'm going to be asking when the module is over will have to do with how important is the role of tradition in big cities like Vadam. Always remember never to give a straight answer in academia but be able to back it up. Remember we are supposed to be aboard our ship by eight-thirty Sidney time tomorrow. Until then familiarize yourself with the syllabus. Class dismissed."

Everyone rose from their seats. Dr. Philips called Rtas over to his side. As everyone else left the room , Philips looked at Rtas and said simply "You look nervous."

"I'm worried that I might find out who I am on this trip and that I won't like it."

"This trip won't change who you think of as family, I can promise you that. And about yourself, well, you might be taking a big risk, but you might just find a big reward."

_And if I do find that I don't like myself, I love the One who is in my heart. He can help me to be a better person_.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: As of _Halo Silentium_ (haven't read it or any of the Greg Bear novels) there could be an entire Forerunner Civilization out there in Halo 5, but I'm guessing that when everything is said and done as I've seen someone else say in a forum "Anybody else want Halo 6 to end with Humans, Forerunners, and Elites finding peace and living in harmony?"

* * *

Rtas really did not know what to make of Vadam. Everywhere he went, he saw young Sangheili who were eager to learn about math and the sciences. Vadam had been one of the few Sangheili states to get Human AIs to instruct young ones in the aspects of education that the warrior's education lacked. But among many—no—most of the elder Sangheili he saw despair and a general apathy toward life. This evening he and his Human friends were visiting a local tavern. No one except Rtas felt safe with Sangheili liquor, and he didn't want any. They were there to observe culture. Rtas, to his surprise, was not a pariah. On the contrary, he was a superstar. The street kids kept coming up to him to ask him how much better life on Earth was. No one ever stopped to ask what was like to be the only Sangheili. The Sangheili at the tavern were closer to Rtas in age. Their questions had more to do with what did people on Earth do for entertainment. The traditional Sangheili pastimes included wrestling and dueling with sticks for both genders and weaving for girls. No one bothered with calligraphy or poetry anymore. They looked at Sangheili folk music as backward, and had no exposure to Human pop music. Rtas was determined to introduce the sport of basketball to Sangheilios before he left. He could assess that these young Vadamese had left behind their parents on a tier seven understanding of technology and were at tier 4: Earth in the 1950s and 60s. Soon it would be time for Vadam to launch a primitive spacecraft to Qikost before the comrades in Kusov won the Sangheili native craft space race. Of course this was only Vadam and a handful of other Sangheili states. Most of the planet was stuck in medieval times. Rtas could tell that while the Vadamese were doing their best to catch up to pre-war Humanity in science, which was more important, they were almost completely neglecting art. He noticed Bob standing near two Sangheili at a table with arums in front of them. They also had datapads with them working out the permutations for the puzzles. Most significantly no one over thirty was in the tavern. As long the kids were learning their science, the parents didn't seem to care what else they did. This troubled Rtas greatly.

"You look worried, Rtas," Eriko said.

"I am. Before the Humans were the galaxy's great power, the Sangheili were so devoted to the military that all their other skills had atrophied. Now, here, at least, their turning to science but with the same sense of monomania they once had for the military. The last thing any Sangheili should want within the next century or so is to become the parent of my species' Catherine Halsey."

"You're worried that a Sangheili pursuit of knowledge might be just as indifferent to morality as the Sangheili pursuit of honor was?'

"If anyone pursues knowledge with no other regards, the consequences could be disastrous. Humans first wanted to use nuclear fission as an energy source, then we got the a-bomb."

Eriko noticed how Rtas used first person pronouns to refer to both the Sangheili and the Humans.

"You just called the Sangheili 'my species' and mentioned an event in Human history as when 'we got the a-bomb.'"

"I would like to think that as far as the spirit is concerned there is no difference."

Rtas looked out at the adolescent Sangheili playing with their arums. One was typing in permutations, and then…voila! For the first time in the past thousand years a Sangheili solved an arum in just over an hour! She had help from a Human calculator, but still!

Bob, who had been keeping time, said, "I think we need to tell Dr. Phillips!"

Rtas just stared in awe with the other Sangheili that were clambering around the puzzle-solver. Calculator or not, she had to be a quick thinker by Sangheili standards, and could probably beat Rtas at Arum solving. Rtas stepped toward her.

"How did you do it?"

"I just did the math in my head, checked my work, and had faith that my instruments were correct."

"Well, you've just made history. What's your name?"

"Raia. Raia 'Vadam."

"Rtas Jonathan Brooks."

Bob, recognizing that this was the most intimate moment Rtas had ever had with a Sangheili female, and that Rtas' parents were going to want him to have his permanent residence on Earth, decided to break up the moment.

"Rtas, she solved the arum in exactly seventy-five and a half minutes. Go tell Dr. Phillips!"

* * *

Rtas reached Dr. Phillip's room. There was an elderly Sangheili in brown robes and a walking stick sitting on Dr. Phillips's bed. He was talking to Dr. Phillips. Rtas told Dr. Phillips what had happened.

"Rtas stay here. This gentleman would like to speak to you. I'm getting down to that tavern!"

Dr. Phillips left the two Sangheili alone.

"I have known about you for a long time, young one. The scholar tells me your name is Rtas," he said in English.

"It is, sir."

"I once had a friend with that name. And the humans who raised you?"

"Like I'm their own child, sir, which I am."

"And what do you think of the world where you hatched?"

"Some things I see concern me, sir."

"Such as?"

"I know Sangheili fathers don't acknowledge their children, but even the mothers don't seem to notice the gaping hole in their children's hearts."

"What gaping hole?"

"All they seem to care about is science. Everything is just there to be analyzed. They still wrestle and duel with sticks in their freetime but that is just a part of Sangheili nature. There is no interest in anything artistic. They seem to be on a path that will one day produce a scientist willing to endanger lives to prove a theory. What troubles me even more is that the parent's don't seem to care, so long as we can reach tier three on our own again."

"The problem is that knowledge is the only thing that matters," the elderly Sangheili coughed. "When I learned the truth about the Halos, I knew in my hearts that the Forerunners were not gods. I knew that there was no Great Journey waiting for my people or for anyone. But I saw unity between Humans and Sangheili in moments of such courageous valor that I thought surely there was something left to hope for." The elderly Sangheili rasped, "Then we learned about the Precursors." The old one's eyes shifted as if they became focused on something that only he could see. He slashed with one hand. "They created life in this galaxy, maybe this universe. Surely they should be known as gods. Yet we knew them as the Flood. I saw the giant parasite with my own eyes. The Gravemind that first made me see the Prophets' treachery was the genetic descendant of my makers!" He slashed again and made a "blargh" noise. He obviously wanted to spit but since he was indoors he controlled himself.

This elderly Sangheili had seen _that_ Gravemind? And he lived in Vadam.

"Are you—"Rtas started.

"Thel 'Vadam? First Arbiter of the United Sangheili Republic? I'm retired now." He hung his head in shame. "Sangheilios needed, still needs a savior, and I wasn't him. The galaxy still needs a savior, and I don't think he's John either." Rtas could tell that the former Arbiter was referring to John 117, the Master Chief.

"When the Precursors returned as Flood in an even more terrifying form, it was only the technical skill of the Humans and Forerunners working together that saved us from their wrath." Tears swelled in Thel's eyes. "However more intelligent than Sangheili the Humans and Forerunners are they are still closer to us than to our creators. We, the creatures destroyed our creators through technology. Science destroyed the gods. So what besides knowledge has any useful meaning? Does anything at all have any intrinsic meaning?"

Rtas could see what the Arbiter was saying. For the Sangheili of the more wealthy cities like Vadam, the world prophesied by Nietzsche had arrived. Nietzsche had really made this point about the loss of objective truth, not God, but the starting point, loss of faith in God, and the end point, life had no point, were the same.

"Give us intrinsic meaning and we will be whole again."

Rtas felt filled with pity. He did something that surprised himself.

"Can I pray for you, sir?"

"To whom? The gods are dead."

"Not my God."

At that moment Rtas' memory shot back in time to images of his mom praying for him when his parents had first rescued him, of an angel with a Sangheili face cradling him in _Big Iron's_ sick bay, of the pastor who baptized him, whom his dad confirmed knew nothing of his medical history. The pastor had laid his hand on the shoulder that had once been taller than the other.

"The Lord knows you came from a people who were very proud when you hatched. That's why he gave you that shoulder…so you would be thrown out and taken in by humans who would raise you in humility. He needs you to be humble for the Sangheili people."

Rtas just remembered that. He told the Arbiter.

"So the pastor knew about your condition? He could have learned from other Humans."

"No he didn't. I know him and there is no way he worked for the government. And I saw him make similar statements to other people and he was always right."

"Am I just supposed to take your word that there is a God who can give meaning to everything?" the Arbiter asked, anger flaring.

"No, you're supposed to ask God yourself. Don't necessarily expect an answer right away. And there is something else to consider."

"What else?" the Arbiter asked, genuinely confused.

"You said the galaxy needed a savior. You said he wasn't you or the Master Chief. You were right that he wasn't either of you, but the Chief was more in the right direction. John 1:17 is a verse from the New Testament or _B'rit Chadashah_. Christians and Messianic Jews regard this as part of our Holy Scriptures, together with the Old Testament or _Tanakh _which non-Messianic Jews also regard as Holy Scripture."

The Arbiter's interest was piqued.

"You have my attention."

"My favorite translation of John 1:17 says, 'For the _Torah_ was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.'"

"Who is Yeshua?"

"You may have heard of him as Jesus. _B'rit Chadashah_ means 'New Covenant.'"

The Arbiter's mandibles flared in excitement. He wasn't a believer yet, but the words "John 1:17" and "New Covenant" were stirring feelings in his heart that his head told him he shouldn't have.

"God made several Covenants with one Human nation, the Jewish people. The New Covenant is also specifically for the Jewish people, but anyone who believes in Lord Yeshua can be grafted in to the commonwealth of Israel. The Jews have a special destiny to be a blessing to all Human nations, just as I believe Humans have a special destiny to be a blessing to all sentient species in the Milky Way."

The Arbiter felt something click in his hearts that told him this had to be right. But still…

"I'm going to pray to your God and ask if he exists, ask him who Yeshua is and if non-Humans can be grafted in. And I will pray in a spirit of humility."

"That's all I ask."

* * *

Rtas returned home after the module was over, eventually earning a doctorate in Xenoanthropology with an emphasis in Sangheili studies. He kept in touch with his parents, especially his mother, who with every waypoint was more and more convinced that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah, though Rtas predicted she was only going to admit believing in him when she could tell Rtas in person…a prediction that turned out to be right. Rtas and a team of sympathetic believers from Brazil set up a ministry on Sangheilios, establishing a church in the rural areas outside of Vadam were the aging former Arbiter atended. Many incidents similar to Rtas' encounter with the pastor knowing about Rtas' birth defect happened. Sometimes Rtas was the instrument, at other times other members of the congregation were. Gradually the faith spread to the urban areas of Vadam and to other states. Not only Sangheili, but those Unggoy, Jiralhanae, and Kig-Yar still on Sangheilios were drawn to the new faith too. Rtas communicated with his parents daily and came home for a year every three years. He knew who he was, a servant of Yeshua, who just happened to have mandibles.


End file.
